


Did I Let You Down

by hippieklaus



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Past Drug Addiction, Strained Relationships, enklavefest2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29265291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hippieklaus/pseuds/hippieklaus
Summary: It’s a shame knowing we could be good—that you could treat me better if you really wanted to, and if you can’t do it for my sake, then do it for our sake.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19
Collections: EnKlave Fest 2021





	Did I Let You Down

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, hope you're ready to cry! ANYWHO this is my entry for EnKlave Fest 2021. The prompt I chose was "Dave being portrayed as flawed in some way that has consequences (your choice what the flaw is, just as long as it's a genuine negative character trait and not 'he's too nice')".

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Dave mumbled under his breath as he pulled the car into the driveway. He made it home much later than he originally anticipated, and Klaus was surely waiting for him—that is, if he remembered they had dinner plans. It was touch and go what Klaus remembered these days. Dave initially planned on getting home no later than six, but it was just after ten when he parked in the garage. Resting his forehead on the steering wheel, Dave took a deep breath. For the first time in a long time, he hoped that Klaus passed out before he got home. 

Sighing, he glanced at his phone and cringed at the one unread message. 

_It was great seeing you tonight. I still can’t feel my legs x_

Dave closed his eyes and took a deep breath before typing out his reply. 

_This was the last time. Don’t text me anymore._

Within seconds, his phone pinged again. 

_You said that last time x_

“Fuck!” He shouted in the confinement of his car, slamming his fist down on the steering wheel. He knew he had to pull himself together before going inside to Klaus. His partner seemed to have a sixth sense and could tell something was up with Dave—well he used to, anyway. Lately, Dave often didn’t know what to expect when he came home. Some days he would come home to Klaus preparing an involved dinner, and others he would come home to him passed out on the couch with a bottle of gin on the coffee table. Sighing, he grabbed his things from the passenger seat before getting out of the car and heading into the house. 

“Hey babe,” he threw his keys onto the table Klaus set up in the entryway. Klaus was situated with his left leg crossed over his right at the kitchen island with a laptop in front of him and a glass of red wine. He wore a pair of black leggings along with an oversized black and white striped sweater that hung off his left shoulder, exposing his clavicle. It was obvious he had lost more weight. He glanced up at Dave and downed the remainder of his glass before getting up to open another bottle. “I see it’s a wine night,” Dave muttered. 

“Don’t you even fucking start,” Klaus snapped, surprising Dave. 

Eyebrows shooting up, Dave shrugged out of his winter coat and hung it up in the closet. “I’m not starting anything, Klaus. How was your day?” 

With his glass now full, Klaus took a seat in front of the laptop. “Oh, it was fine. I got up early to get groceries for dinner,” he gestured to various items set out on the kitchen counter. “But it’s a little late for that now. I got peckish waiting for you, so microwaved a burrito instead.” 

“Klaus, I am so sorry. I completely forgot that we were going to make dinner tonight and I got caught up with things at the office. I’m glad you didn’t wait up for me to eat.” 

Klaus hummed, taking a sip of wine. “Sounds like you had a busy day. Hopefully, Heather will be able to feel her legs soon. She should really see a doctor about that.” 

The color drained from Dave’s face. He approached Klaus at the island. “You know about Heather?” He couldn’t read what Klaus was thinking, so he kept his tone neutral. 

“You should really disable your iMessages on your laptop, baby, especially when you’re having an affair,” Klaus spun the laptop around, exposing Dave’s message history. “She’s beautiful, Davey. Amazing tits.” He scrolled up to display explicit photos. 

Dave snapped the laptop shut. “Klaus, please let me explain.” 

“Explain what?” Klaus exclaimed. “That you cheated on me? Apparently more than once? By all means, please explain.” He downed the rest of the wine and focused all his attention on Dave. 

At a loss for words, Dave looked into Klaus’s glossy eyes. “Baby, it’s late and you’re drunk. Can we please talk about this tomorrow? I promise I’ll tell you everything, but I don’t think now is the best time.” 

Before he even finished his sentence, Klaus interrupted with a shout, “Of course I’m drunk! I just found out that my boyfriend of six years has been cheating on me! Who gives a flying fuck if I’ve had some wine? So no, we will not talk about this tomorrow because you’re going to tell me everything. Right now.” Dave opened his mouth to respond, but Klaus cut him off. “Actually, wait a tick.” He hopped off the barstool and filled his glass with more wine. He turned around and leaned on the kitchen counter, facing Dave and gestured for him to continue. 

“Wait, Klaus. That’s enough wine.” 

“Oh, fuck off. If you were in my shoes, you’d be drinking too.” When Dave didn’t protest, he continued. “So. Who’s Heather and why is she sending you pictures of her glorious breasts?” 

Sighing, Dave took a seat on one of the barstools, with his elbows resting on the island. “She’s a temp at the office. Well, she was. She was recently hired on full time.” 

“And how many times did you fuck her?” 

“Klaus, I—” 

“How many times, Dave?” 

Dave buried his face in his hands and mumbled, “I don’t know.” 

“What the fuck does that mean?” 

“It means I don’t fucking know,” Dave snapped. “I lost track.” 

Cackling, Klaus gulped down the remainder of his wine, dribbling some onto his sweater. “I knew it. I fucking knew it. It only took us six years to get here, but I knew you weren’t any better than the rest of them. Oh, it’s all fun and games with Mr. Klaus Hargreeves, but as soon as things get too real, you turn your back on me, just like everyone else.” He poured what was left of the wine bottle into his glass. “Well, the joke’s on you, _darling_ ,” he spat. “I don’t care.” 

“Hold on,” Dave stood up from the stool. “Turned my back on you? I have done nothing but love and support you through all your shit. Through the rehabs, through the relapses, through the court dates, through the fucking overdoses, Klaus. I have been there for you. I come home every night because I think, ‘Maybe it’ll be different this time. Maybe I won’t have to watch you drink yourself to death.’

“And it is _exhausting_ , Klaus. I am so tired of coming home and being afraid to open the door. I am so scared that one day, I’m going to come home and find you dead on the couch _again_ , but it’ll be too late this time and I’ve lost you for good. And every time I suggest checking back into rehab, you just say, and I quote, _‘Go fuck yourself, Dave._ ’ So yeah, Klaus. I sought out comfort elsewhere, and I regret it and I am so sorry. I swear to you, this was the last time.” 

“I bet Heather’s cunt was super comforting.” 

Dave groaned, “This isn’t about sex, Klaus. Heather...I don’t know. She listens to me.”

In an instant, the wine glass Klaus chucked across the kitchen shattered against the cabinets, sending shards of glass flying. “Then why don’t you fucking marry her?” He screeched. Blood dripped down from a small cut on his cheek. “Since I obviously suck to live with, why don’t you go live a perfect life with perfect Heather and have perfect babies and I’ll just go rot in the fucking gutter or something. Sorry I’m the worst, but I have great news for you! You can leave! You won’t be hurting my feelings.”

He couldn’t take it any longer.

Suddenly, all the anger and resentment Dave had allowed to build finally exploded. “That’s the life I want with _you_ , Klaus!” He shouted. “We were going to buy a house, a-and start a family! We were going to have the _perfect_ life, but you threw all that out the window with the pills and the drinking. When will you see that you are slowly killing yourself? When will you understand that this is your fault? That you are single handedly destroying everything that we ha—what the _fuck,_ Klaus?” He groaned when Klaus punched him right in the nose. 

“I didn’t make you cheat.” He stomped out of the kitchen, grabbing the carton of cigarettes from the coffee table, and stepped out onto their balcony, closing the screen door behind him. He faced Dave as he slipped a dart between his purple-stained lips and cupped his face to block the air from putting out the lighter’s flame, mumbling, “Do whatever the fuck you want, Dave. I don’t care.”

Dave gently prodded his nose. It wasn’t bleeding and it didn’t feel like it was broken. “Klaus come on. Please don’t be like that.” He slid the screen open, but Klaus held his hand out, blocking him from stepping onto the balcony.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Klaus snapped. He pushed Dave back into the house and closed the sliding glass door behind him. He turned his back to Dave and leaned against the railing, taking a long drag from his cigarette.

Sighing, Dave gave up. He went back into the kitchen and began cleaning up Klaus’s mess. Careful to avoid any shards, he swept up the glass and threw it into the bin. He counted three empty wine bottles—Klaus must have finished one before Dave even got home—and tossed those into the recycling bin. He took one last look at Klaus outside, watching as he lit another smoke.

_‘I guess I’m going to bed alone. Again.’_

\--

It wasn’t always like this, Dave remembered as he prepped the bedroom for sleep. He tossed the frilly throw pillows Klaus insisted on purchasing onto the floor in front of the bed and pulled the quilt and sheets back. He could still smell Heather’s perfume, so he decided on a shower before bed. He chose a pair of sweatpants and a sleep shirt from his side of the dresser and made his way into the bathroom.

While he waited for the water to heat up, Dave undressed and poked at the hickey Heather left on his left shoulder. “Goddammit,” he whispered.

It wasn’t always like this, he thought as he stepped into the shower and let the warmth engulf him. Klaus was a bit of a partier when they first met, but they had been in college. Everyone was partying back then. But Klaus—Klaus liked to take things one step farther. He always had to do one more shot, or one more hit before he was satisfied. He didn’t know how to stop, and Dave didn’t think he ever wanted to learn.

After two years together, Dave convinced Klaus to check into his first treatment center. He picked Klaus up after thirty days, and things were great for a while. They moved into their first apartment together and Dave accepted his, what Klaus called, “big boy job” in the finance office of a nearby hospital. Klaus picked up some shifts at the local grocery store to keep himself busy during the day. When they returned home from work, they would cook dinner together, or if it was a rough day for either of them, they would order far too much pizza.

Dave smiled, remembering the night Klaus suggested having a slumber party in the living room because he had never had one before. “I want all the bells and whistles,” Klaus stated. “We’re going to order pizza and watch stupid rom-coms or horror movies while we gorge ourselves on junk food. Oh! And we can talk about _boys_.” And that’s exactly what they did. They brought all the pillows and blankets, many of which Klaus had knitted, they could find into the living room and built a nest for the two of them. They ate as much pizza as they could before it felt like they were going to explode and watched the worst horror movie they could find at Blockbuser while they cuddled up in their blankets. Their “boy talk” quickly evolved into a sensual romp in the middle of the living room floor.

Those were the nights that Dave missed. They hadn’t had sex in months because Klaus was just never sober enough for Dave to feel comfortable with it. It wasn’t even really the sex that he missed—it was the companionship they had. He yearned for those silly nights like their pizza slumber party, but most days, he found Klaus passed out on the couch when he came home from work.

He was scrubbing his arm with a washcloth when his eyes lost focus and he was no longer in the shower. Suddenly, he saw himself coming home and Klaus was lying on the couch. He knew immediately something wasn’t right as he approached his partner, gasping when he noticed Klaus’s blue lips and barely-there breathing. He grasped Klaus’s face in hands, tapping his cheeks gently as called out to him. When Klaus only moaned weakly in response, Dave scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket and called for paramedics.

He dragged Klaus’s limp body down onto the floor, knocking the coffee table over in the process, and followed the phone operator’s instructions. The world stopped around him as he pushed down on Klaus’s chest rhythmically, pinching his nose and breathing into his mouth. He repeated the process for what felt like an eternity until the paramedics showed up and took over.

“What did he take?” One of the men shouted at him.

Dave didn’t understand the question. He watched as the other two loaded Klaus up onto the gurney, strapping him down. “No—nothing, he’s sober.”

“Well, he isn’t now. What did he take?”

Dave scrunched his eyes in frustration. It could have been anything, knowing Klaus’s arsenal of vices. He went with his gut reaction, “Oxy, maybe? I don’t know—I just got home. He’s been clean for a year.”

The man nodded. “We’re taking him to HCMC, unless you prefer somewhere else.” Dave nodded and followed them to the ambulance parked in their driveway. His heart pounded so hard in his chest; it was all he could hear. Neighbors gathered on their stoops, rubbernecking at the scene. One of the paramedics pushed Dave toward the ambulance, guiding him into the back and slammed the doors shut.

Dave gasped, dropping his washcloth. He was in the shower again, the water running hot on his back. He quickly rinsed off and took shaky steps out of the tub toward the toilet so he could sit down, sobbing into his hands.

Another flashback.

It had been a few weeks since he relived the worst day in his entire life. He drew a square along his left palm with his right index finger, breathing with the motion, just like his therapist taught him. He continued the movements until his breathing became steady and he could stand without feeling like his knees would give out. He turned the shower off and threw his sleep clothes on.

Outside of the bathroom, he could hear Klaus rustling around in the kitchen, prepping a cocktail. Dave hung up his towel on the hook on the back of the door and left the ensuite. Before climbing into bed, he grabbed one of Klaus’s knitted blankets from the closet and tossed it over his side of the bed. Lying down now, he brought the blanket up to his nose and inhaled deeply. If he couldn’t cuddle up to his partner, he was going to take the next best thing. Dave focused on his breathing and tried to fall asleep.

He must have dozed off, because next thing he knew, the house was dark, and Klaus was crawling into bed with him. He snuggled up behind Dave, wrapping his arms around his waist. “Baby, I missed you,” he slurred into his neck. “I didn’t even hear you come home.”

Tears sprung to Dave’s eyes and his chin trembled, but he let Klaus attach himself to his tensed back. He didn’t remember anything—didn’t remember fighting—didn’t remember hitting him. “I just got home,” Dave lied. “I’m exhausted, Klaus. Let’s just sleep.” Klaus squeezed him and hummed in agreement.

Dave waited—waited for Klaus to finally pass out. He got out of bed and stared down at his sleeping partner for a long moment before grabbing his suitcase from the closet. He opened the luggage in the living room and made multiple trips to the bedroom, bringing his clothes out to pack. He crammed as much of his belongings into the suitcase as he could. He took one last walk around the small house, seeing if he missed anything. He removed a framed photo—the one a kind stranger took of them when they vacationed in Key West—and threw it on top of his clothes and zipped the case shut.

Dave found a piece of scrap paper in the kitchen and quickly scribbled, _“I love you. I’m sorry.”_ He taped the note to the coffeemaker, knowing that would be Klaus’s first stop in the morning. Setting his luggage in the entryway, he threw on his coat. He stopped just as he was about to leave, but quickly shuffled back to the bedroom. He pushed Klaus’s hair back and gave him a kiss on his forehead. “I love you,” he whispered sadly. 

**Author's Note:**

> How are y'all holding up? I'm so sorry I did this to you. 
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are welcomed! Follow me at hippieklaus over on Tumblr should you desire~ 
> 
> Please don't repost on other sites without permission.


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